Mali(SN) :Two French journalists have been killed after being kidnapped while working on an assignment in Mali. France’s foreign ministry confirmed on Saturday that the pair were killed in the north Malian town of Kidal after being taken by armed gunmen.
The ministry said in a statement: “Claude Verlon and Ghislaine Dupont, journalists at RFI, were found dead in Mali. They had been kidnapped by armed gunmen in Kidal.”The French government, in conjunction with the Malian authorities will make every effort to find out as soon as possible about the circumstances of their death.”
The journalists were working for a French radio station and are understood to have just finished an interview with a Tuareg rebel leader when they were seized.A Kidal city official said several armed men grabbed them.
Malian Army commander Colonel Mamari Camara said his men in the field confirmed the two reporters had been captured. RFI also confirmed the kidnappings on its website, saying the journalists were taken at 1pm local time.
Before their deaths were confirmed, a statement from the radio station expressed fears for its staff members, saying it had not heard from them since they were taken.French forces were invited into Mali earlier this year to combat extremists who had taken possession of the north of the country.The Islamist rebels were beaten back but many are suspected to have gone to ground in the small towns and villages in Mali’s north east.
Kidal was one of the last places to be cleared of militants by French forces.The deaths come days after four Frenchmen kidnapped in Niger three years ago and held in Mali were released.The rebel groups, many of which are affiliated to al Qaida, are believed to use kidnap to to raise money from ransoms.
